A DOWNTON ABBEY-ish CHRISTMAS
My house is a 1,000 square foot, 178 year old Ontario cottage. The ceilings are low, the thermostat is always on high and the grandest thing about it is nothing. Yet I still decorate it as though I'm living in both the upstairs and downstairs of Downton Abbey. One part scullery maid, one part old grande dame. Oh Downton. I do miss you.
I have crystal chandeliers, life sized portraits, and scrabbled together wood pieces on the brink of disintegration. It really is like the art department from Downton Abbey came by one day and dumped half of Mrs. Patmore's and half of Lady Mary's things into my house then shook it up like a snowglobe.
There's no hiding who you truly are when it comes to Christmas decorating. And I'm classic Christmas all day long. Take a look at your Christmas tree. Go ahead. Do it right now.
That Christmas tree is YOU with pine needles. It probably reflects how you like to dress, your general mood and who you truly are. That's right. You are your Christmas tree. This of course does not hold true if you happen to hate your Christmas tree.
I may have a fondness for Mid Century Modern, and sleek, contemporary pieces but if you shoved me in a hole for the rest of my life and said you could only decorate that hole in the ground with one style, it would be in the style of Downton Abbey snowglobe. Which I suppose means that I should start looking for a gold leafed pine box for use in the future.
This year for my Christmas decorating, to really enhance the Downton Abbey feel, I highlighted my old riding gear (a la Lady Mary), added some greenery and a few olden days touches and called it a day. I didn't use HALF of my normal Christmas stuff yet it feels more cozy and Christmassy than ever.
Happy Christmas. Enjoy the tour.
You learned about the DIY Christmas tree candles and the Dried Orange Slices a couple of weeks ago. Together they create an instant classic Christmas tree. I also shoved a few oranges slices into a wreath on my front hall table.
Along with my riding stuff I also put out some of my silver plate. Nothing says Downton Abbey like silver serving pieces. Just ask Carson.
Starting on Monday, December 6th you can see my 2021 CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR HERE.
I even changed the art over my buffet to the right of my couch to be more Downton friendly. Also the colours work perfectly for Christmas.
Other things that make this work? Nuts and oranges laid out ready for scarfing down. And not nuts from a jar. Nuts that you need to use a nutcracker with.
Dried orange slices also went onto the garland around the fireplace and wherever I could put an evergreen branch or garland I did.
How did I have so many branches? 3 weeks before Christmas I had an evergreen that was growing too close to the house cut down. Before all the branches went into the chipper I flung myself at the giant piece of machinery and dragged a bunch of them out of the jaws of death. Or maybe I just said, Hey, leave me a few branches, to the guys who cut it down. I'm kind of foggy on which scenario actually happened due to an overactive imagination brought on by being part Irish.
This is the one corner that feels more modern than I'd like it to but sometimes you have to work with what you have. I hung a few of the vintage ornaments I've been collecting over the past decade or so on my magazine rack.
If you like the look you can make the exact same magazine rack in a couple of hours. Here's the tutorial.
Yeah. Antlers. They get me every time.
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Upstairs (the garland, mirrors and stirrups) meets downstairs (antique cheese box).
This white tree is another one of those compromises. But I won't give it up. It's the one thing that's exactly the same in my house at Christmas no matter what. White tree decorated with pinecones of all kinds.
There's the antique, life sized oil painting and scrabbled together bit of wood saddle stand.
Keeping things authentic, the table runner is just pine cones and only pine cones all lined up in about a 10" wide path down the centre of the table with a few oranges stuck in.
The greenery is a branch from the tree I saved. It is just about to be cut into tiny pieces and hung from the bows on the Black Bookcase Presents. The tutorial to making those bookcase filler presents is here.
Here's an interesting note. That mason jar is spilling out Italian chestnuts. Chestnuts roasted on an open fire are gross. They're horrible. Don't be fooled by the song. They're like hot, sweet, chick peas, all mealy and weird. EVERY year I think it'll be different. EVERY year I roast chestnuts and think the outcome will be different. It is not. Ever.
More tree branches await a good hacking and placement in the house.
My house obviously isn't 100% authentic Downton Abbey. Not even close actually. But when you walk in the door and the fire is roaring and those gross chestnuts are filling the house with their deceivingly delicious smell, you have know you're in a warm, cozy place, where doing things by hand is important. Where life is simple and hard at the same time. Where you'll be served cookies on a silver tray but won't get a sideways glance if you spill crumbs all over the couch. What do I care if you spill cookie crumbs?
One of the housemaids will clean it up before I even know it happened.
Heather
Absolutely PERFECT 👌
Kris
You did such a great job! Can you tell me where the white pears came from? (a bit of a pear obsession - my tree is mostly handblown pears wih some apples/pinecones thrown in - oh, I guess a bit of a pinecone inspiration, too).
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Kris
Make that a bit of a pinecone obsession!
Karen
Ditto for the pinecones, lol. ~ karen!
Karen
I wish I could tell you Kris, but I got them years ago. Chances are they came from a local garden centre that gets in a TON of Christmas decorations and trees during the holidays. ~ karen!
Kris
Thanks - you are so good at replying to everyone. They look beautiful nonetheless! I am now officially on the hunt!
Amy Watson
Karen I love everything you do (almost) I love your antique mid century MOD decor, I really do, but when are you gonna finally say goodbye to those pink curtains????? Can we make that your new year's resolution ?? This is my favorite Christmas if your house this far, and I have been around for a few. ❤❤
Karen
LOL. I know!!! I just haven't had time. :( :( ps. They don't look pink like that in real life. But they're still gross. ~ karen!
whitequeen96
I have some Korean friends that boil their chestnuts "until you can push a chopstick through them." I think they cut a little cross in them first so the "skin/shell" curls up. They're actually pretty good that way!
Julie
I love those bookshelves! The black in the gifts is just amazing.
Karen
Thanks Julie. Yeah, the black works great in the white bookshelves. I almost switched to white this year but stuck with the black. ~ karen!
Rina
Hello Karen : Beautiful house tour. Much nicer that the other big house tour that is very popular in this area. The ornaments in the house are yours and a part of who you are, and not just stuff brought in to make the house look good. Here for the weekend gone the next day.
Have you had Chestnuts roasted with butter,salt and rosemary? ymmm
A quick question I noticed on the table with the runner of pine cones there were some very light colored ones. Did you buy them that way or are they bleached?
I tried to bleach them as they suggested on pintrest but nothing happened.
Any DIY ideas on that.
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo.
Karen
Hi Rina! Thanks very much. As for the pine cones, no I haven't bleached them, that's just the way they are. There are also gold pine cones in the runner, maybe that's what you're seeing? As for lightening them, I'm not sure what you could do other than some kind of white wash. :/ ~ karen!
Karen
Thanks Rina. I've been asked several times to be on that very house tour, but always say no. I've tried chestnuts with butter but I'm still not into them, lol. We all know I've give them another shot next year though. ~ karen!
Kate
I love antlers, too! I love how your antlers are different from mine: mine are all white-tail deer (I’m on the Va/WV/MD border) and you have some... moose? Elk? Regional differences, yo.
Anna
Beautiful...all of it, as expected!!! Question...do you spritz the live greenery w/water throughout the holiday or just let it go???
Thanks Karen for all the inspiration!
Jody
Your annual Christmas house tour is my favourite. I love that you change it up every year. Is the pepper mill in the kitchen the one you made? Love it!
Jacquie Gariano
I just love it. Christmas everywhere. What a warm, cozy feeling. Happy Holidays.
Melissa
I love everything! Even the white tree and that says a lot cause I'm kinda a purist when it comes to trees. Real, green, tall and covered in shiny stuff is the way to go in my books. Beautiful..... you nailed it! Merry Christmas!
Lisa
LOVE your decorating and the mix'n'match of old and new - the best way. My tree is a Zanzibar Gem - with rather old little wooden Christmas decorations plopped over the leaves. I used to decorate my deck (a lot), but now only pop them out when people drop over - the cockatoos like playing with the decorations way too much. Thank you for a fabulous year and here's to some snow for your Christmas. Ditto re the chestnuts too. :-)
SusanR
Your home looks lovely again this year, in a different and even lovelier way. Very homey AND elegant!
Jackie
Love it! You do such great work - no matter what you are doing. We put up less than 1/2 of our stuff this year & we still have a house full - inside & out. I love Christmas but the work, not so much. It seems to be more of a chore, the older I get. Merry Christmas, girlfriend.
Nicole
I love the wreaths on the kitchen cabinets. I'm not sure why I never thought to do that, but I'm going to try to figure out a way to do it, even with my nasty melamine cabinet. Make it less nasty melamine! Plus, hanging them there means that cats can't reach them easily! :)
Mindy Northrop
I think the most appropriate comment is the one that initially popped into my head....It's all really quite lovely.
Mia
Everything is Christmasy and cozy, but the only thing not beautiful is the upstairs mirror garland with the beading overlay; it is perfection! It immediately grabbed my heart, so it must be my spirit animal of holiday decor. Thanks for all the work you put into that.
Karen Hamilton
The vintage picture of the cattle is one very similar to one my grandparents had in their house in Sarnia Ontario. Also, I instantly recognized your house from the Lee Valley newsletter I received recently. Instantly!
Nicole
Oooo. She's in the Lee Valley newsletter? I seem to have fallen off their mailing list again, but that's awesome! Their catalogs always are so gorgeous.
Lynn
First thing I noticed was your riding boots on your server , an my first response was oh no 🤦♀️.
The rest of your decorations are to die for. The sneaky little elf, the pear candles, your candle sticks on your table . Your display of vintage ornaments is fantastic as usually they get lost in a tree , yet you display them for all their glory. The truck hauling the trees is priceless. Karen your ability to use greenery is a true gift, It has said Christmas has arrived everyone is welcome.
MaggieB
Karen, my girlfriends and I are having our Christmas home Cinema evening this Friday. Last year our Italian friend bought her family recipe roasted chestnuts, they were so good!! I'll ask her and put it up here, sometime when I've woken up from the food/wine stupor on Saturday.